Outsole with a peripheral lip



May 17, 1960 R. A. HEIDER 2,936,535

OUTSOLE WITH A PERIPHERAL LIP Filed May 27, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 17, 1960 R. A. HEIDER 2,936,535

OUTSOLE WITH A PERIPHERAL LIP Filed May 2'1, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet z a g a 22 frg. 6

i St t s Patent 1 Claim. (Cl. 36-25) The present invention relates broadly toa shoe outsole. It is customary in the shoe manufacturing art that the upper, sole and heel in rough form as received from the tannery be first assembled and, thereafter processed through various finishing operations. In the case of womens shoes, the rough sole is normally attached to the rough upper by adhesive means, and it is accordingly required that the entire assembled rough shoe be set aside for a predetermined period to assure an adequate bond between the upper and the sole. From aproduction standpoint, this delay is relatively costly.

It is therefore an important aim of the present invention to provide a novel method of eliminating the delay characterizing present shoe assembly methods.

Another objectof this invention lies in the provision of a new and improved shoesole which permits the shoe upper to be finished prior to attachment of the sole portion.

Another.object of the invention is to provide an outsole'making method by meansofwhich the sole portion is essentially finally finished prior to securement tothe shoe upper.

A further object of the present invention lies in the provision of a novel shoe sole possessed of substantial attractiveness and having an inwardly turned marginal portion integral therewith.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent during the course of the fol lowing description, particularly when taken in connec tion with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a shoe employing a sole constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

Figures 2 and 3 are plan views of sole blanks showing the top and bottom surfaces, respectively;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the sole blank subsequent to a toughening or abrading operation along the top surface thereof;

Figure 5 is vertical sectional view of the structure of Figure 4, subsequent to the performance thereon of a channeling step;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5, and illustrating the sole after removal of a substantial thickness around the periphery thereof;

Figure 7 is a plan view of the sole of Figure 6 showing the structure after opposite ends of the reduced thickness marginal portion have been serrated;

Figure 8 is a plan view of the essentially completed outsole; and

Figure 9 is a vertical sectional view, taken substantially along the line IX-IX of Figure 8.

Referring now first to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is designated generally by the numeral 10 a shoe constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention, and comprising a new and improved sole 11 ad of Figure 4 are essentially straight, forming substantial-.

hesively secured to an upper 12 and supporting a heel structure 13. While detailed reference will be later made to this feature, it is to be now noted that the sole 11 is characterized by an integral inwardly turned portion 14.

receiving and adhesively bonded to the periphery of the upper or body 12 of the shoe 10. In addition to greatly facilitating the assembly of the shoe by provision of a sole 11 of the character shown, specific advantages obtained from the integral inwardly turned portion 14 thereof are improved appearance and substantially increased strength and durability to the entire sole portion.

An initial step in a preferred method of producing the sole 11 is to provide a sole blank 15 of the form shown in Figures 2 and 3. The blank 15 is of the desired size and shape produced from any of the known leathers, and tanned by customary techniques to provide upon one surface 16 thereof a grained efiect of the desired color. While the grained effect extends continuously across the surface 16 thereof, only a portion has been shown for ease of illustration. The surface 16 provides the bottom or base contacting surface of the assembled shoe 10, while surface 17 of Figure 2 receives the customary insole of the finishedarticle 10.

The blank 15 as received from the tanning process may then be abraded or roughened by known tools along a peripheral band 18 as illustrated in Figure 4. This step has been found desirable inorder to improve the adhesive bond obtained in a subsequently performed step, although it may not in all instances be required. Marginal side surfaces 19 of the partially formed outsole 20 1y right angles with the surfaces16 and 17, and ,a shaving or cutting step may be required upon theblankIS to assure this condition.

A channeling step is thereupon performed, the partially formed outsole 20 being slit transversely as shown in Figure 5 to a predetermined point a providing separable peripheral or lip portions 21 and 22. A channeling tool of known construction is employed for this purpose, and the slit made essentially parallel to the lower and upper surfaces 16 and 17, respectively. It is to be noted that the peripheral portion 21 is of substantially greater thickness than the portion 22, and that one wall of the latter portion is bounded by the surface 16 of the partially formed outsole 20.

Subsequent to performance of the channeling step, essentially the entire peripheral portion 21 is removed to produce a semi-finished article 23 of the form shown in Figure 6. This may be accomplished with any suitable cutting means operated in a manner to provide essentially vertical side walls 24 on a relatively thicker central body portion 25 of the partially finished article 23. There is thus obtained an article wherein the peripheral portion 22 is in the form of a reduced thickness flange or lip outwardly extending from the body portion 25.

The peripheral portion 22 in the final phases of the present process is folded over upon the body portion 25, and to reduce the likelihood of wrinkling of said portion 22, opposite ends thereof at the heel and toe portions of the article 23 are pinked or serrated as shown at 26 in Figure 7. The serrations 26 may of course be extended entirely along the margin of the peripheral portion 22, or at spaced locations thereon as desired. The peripheral portion or flange 22 is thereupon folded inwardly toward the vertical walls 24 of the body portion 25 and downwardly upon the upper surface 17 of said body portion. This is performed in a manner to assure close contact between the portion 22 and the adjacent wall 24, and pressing means may be employed during the folding step to crease the inwardly turned section 14 of the portion 22 firmly in close parallel contact with the upper surface 17 of said body portion 25.

Adhesive particularly suitable for leathers is then applied to the remaining portion of the peripheral roughened band 18 or to the peripheral portion 22 or to both, and after the. portion 22 has been folded over in the manner described, there is obtained an essentially finished sole 28 of the form shown in Figure 8. Abrading or' roughening of the inwardly turned section 27 of the portion 22 may be done at this time should it be required in order to improvethe. adhesive bond between the sole 28 and the upper,12 of the sole 10. The final finishing steps known to the art are thereupon performed to produce a shoe 10 having the novel outsole 11 thereon.

It may be seen that by pursuing this invention it is now possible in a production operation for a rough upper to be separately processed through the various known steps to a for m on which little more is required than minor trimming, bufiing and related steps. At the same time production of soles following the steps of this invention may proceed without regard to the status of the production of the uppers, and the elements of the shoe assembled at near to the terminal point of the manufacturing operation. There is accordingly a substantial time savings by elimination of the prior wait while the adhesive securing the rough sole to the rough upper was drying, and in addition, as clearly shown in Figure 1, a shoe 10 is obtained having enhanced decorative effects. Further, since the sole ll is formed with a marginal or web portion 14 folded beneath the shoe upper 12, there is essentially no likelihood of deleterious elements entering the side portionsof the shoe during the wearing thereof. Manufacture of shoe soles by the method of this invention is well adapted to automated techniques, and accordingly additional economies are present therein. While the shoe 10 illustrated in Figure l is designed for women, it is obvious that the invention has equal application to the production of men's loafers, slippers and the like. In addi tion; while the sole 11 has been described as adhesively integral structure.

It will be further understood that various other modi-' fications and changes may be eifected in the article and method herein disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claim.

I claim as my invention: h p 2 An outsole in essentially finished form for attachment to a shoe upper, comprising a shaped body portion provided with a rough insolesurface and a decorative base surface and having an integral reduced thickness web portion formed from said base' surfac e and initially extending outwardly from said body portion, said web portion having an upwardly turned section bearing tightly against the peripheral side surfaces of the body portion and an inwardly turned section attached in generally parallel contact with the insolesurface thereof to provide a covering portion on said peripheral surfaces, and insole surface having the same appearance as the decorative base surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent when s'T'A'rEs 1 1mm 

